The chief of state is King Juan Carlos I (since 22nd November 1975); heir apparent is his son, Prince Felipe, born 30th January 1968. The king is also commander of the armed forces.

The head of government is Jose Maria Aznar Lopez, since 5th May 1996, who represents the centre-right Popular Party (PP) and has absolute majority of seats in both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate as a result of the 12th March 2000 elections. The next elections are to be held in March 2004.

The main opposition party is the left-wing PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers Party) lead by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The central state power is in Madrid, but certain powers such as agriculture, tourism, health, environment and transport policy have been transferred to the individual autonomous communities whereby each has its own parliament as well as a central government representative.

This does however mean that there is a lot of bureaucracy in Spain!